Live and Let Die-info

Live and Let Die

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON LIVE & LET DIE

Sean had done his movie, and was not for coming back. Diamonds Are Forever was strictly a one time deal. This was no small matter, as the various interested parties all had quite different ideas for his successor. Broccoli felt he owed the part to John Gavin, who had been hired for DAF before Connery agreed to do it. United Artists wanted Paul Newman.

he director, Guy Hamilton, wanted Burt Reynolds. Additionally, dozens of screen tests were being shot with lesser actors – just to cover every base. It was Harry Saltzman, Cubby Broccoli’s partner in the production company EON, that insisted it should be an English actor. And his proposal was the actor who had been considered for Doctor No, and then for Casino Royale, and then again for DAF.. a man who was well known thanks to his TV roles, who carried himself with an air of sophistication convincingly… Roger Moore.

Moore, a pacifist, was finally agreed on by all parties, not least because of his attitude. The world was completely different than when Bond first came to the big screen. Villains in the real world were a more sinister, real and current threat than they had seemed in the 60’s, and the economic boom was over. In 1971, a bomb went off in the US Capitol. The QE II received a bomb threat. In May terrorists opened fire on tourists in Tel Aviv’s main airport killing 27. Black September was hijacking aircraft, and in 1972 the Munich Olympic Games became infamous for their tragic events, and a break in at the Watergate Hotel turned out to have links going all the way back to the President. A super spy despatching villains just didn’t seem appropriate any more.. spies were no longer ‘cool’ but viewed with scepticism and distaste by the public. A light touch had worked in Diamonds are Forever – a light touch was now needed to push the franchise forward. In contrast to Lazenby’s outing, great care was taken not to imitate or compare to Connery – no vodka martinis were ordered, the tuxedo did not make an appearance, for example. In addition, he had to make sure not to cock his eyebrow lest he bring to mind The Saint, rather than Bond.

With success by no means certain, money was raised through selling the TV rights from the previous movies. Tom Mankiewicz returned from DAF as screenwriter, and chose Live and Let Die as an appropriate novel, since its edgy storyline seemed appropriate for the new decade. Blaxploitation movies had come into vogue in the early 70’s, and LALD was a novel which tapped into racial and political paranoia in the US. The producers were aware that the villains were almost exclusively black, and this is why the novel was previously considered unfilmable, so balanced things up by having a black love interest (Bond loves Black and White – even if he prefers Johnny Walker) as well as Solitaire. The black villains would not be used as the butt of jokes either – that was saved for a stereotyped redneck Sheriff, memorably played by Clifton James (from New York!). The producers wanted a ‘safe’ film to see.. as evidenced by the Milk Board filming an advertisement on the set!

The production was not untroubled – Moore came down with kidney stone in the middle of shooting, a stunt biker in the signature double decker bus chase landed on coral and was injured, and there were several boat crashes. A fortuitous find however, was on location in Jamaica when the producers saw a sign – ‘Trespassers will be Eaten’, and introduced themselves to Ross Kananga, whose name was then used for the villain.

His alligator farm became the venue for a key scene, in which Kananga himself did the stunt running on the backs of the alligators – a stunt that only went right on the 5th take. Matching the lighter tone, the action quota was also increased – not least in the central boat chase, which relied on daring stunts rather than the intervention of gadgets.

A final ingredient that updated Bond was the music. Bond was not the only one looking for cultural relevance in the 70’s.. Paul McCartney was hired to write the theme song. His fee was large enough that on the reduced budget of the movie, the only way to get the rest of the music composed was to use McCartneys producer, George Martin. McCartney was nominated for an Oscar for the song.

By the end of 73, LALD had sold more tickets than any other movie that year. Bond had new life, and the future of Bond was secured. Live and let Die was the most profitable Bond since Thunderball, exceeding all expectations. In a world becoming uglier, Bond represented something that still retained elegance and charm from a previous time – even when to do so was an anachronism. So was it a brave new direction expanding the world of Bond, or a slide into mediocrity? Watch it again, and make up your own mind..

Trivia

Sean Connery turned down the then astronomical sum of $5.5 million to play James Bond. Connery gave Roger Moore his personal seal of approval for inheriting his role, calling him "an ideal Bond".

The producers made a conscious decision to make Roger Moore's Bond significantly different from Sean Connery's. For example, in this movie Bond never orders a vodka martini but drinks bourbon whiskey instead; the mission briefing occurs in his flat, not the office (only the second time Bond's apartment is featured in the films after an appearance in Dr. No); Bond does not wear a hat; and he smokes cigars instead of cigarettes.

The first Bond film to be set in a fictional country. The next one to do this would be Licence to Kill.

The first Bond film which does not feature Q, the head of Special Ordnance Branch. The character did appear in Dr. No but under his real name of Major Boothroyd (he wasn't played by Desmond Llewelyn in that film either). Fans demanded Llewelyn's return, and he appeared in 11 more Bond films from 1974 to 1999.

The boat chase through the bayous was originally written in the script as just "Scene 156 - The most terrific boat chase you've ever seen". Bond's speedboat jump made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for its distance of 110 feet, a record that stood for three years. Clifton James' spontaneous character acting in that scene was kept in the final print. The second boat was not scripted to collide with the police car, but after this happened while shooting the stunt, the script was changed to accommodate it.

First of two times to date that James Bond has been seen hang-gliding in the EON Productions official James Bond series. Very popular as a new sport in the 1970s, Roger Moore is the only actor to ever play James Bond and be seen hang-gliding. The second time was in Moonraker.

This is the first 007 score not to involve John Barry; former Beatles producer George Martin did the job instead. The musical crash into the main title music echoes his slide crescendo arrangement from The Beatles' track "A Day in the Life".

Roger Moore becomes the first actor to perform the gun-barrel sequence without a hat.

Roger Moore was 45 when he made his debut as 007, making him the oldest actor to do so. The youngest was George Lazenby who made his debut at age 29.

Bernard Lee was very ill during filming, causing the producers to consider replacing him as M with Kenneth More.

Only James Bond movie with Roger Moore in which Felix Leiter appears. David Hedison who played Felix played the role again in Licence to Kill, becoming the first actor to reprise the part.

In addition to Quarrel, the character of Strangways was originally introduced in the novel 'Live and Let Die.' Like Quarrel, Strangways is later killed in Fleming's novel 'Dr. No' and in the film version of the same book Dr. No.

The magnetic wristwatch is Roger Moore's personal favourite Bond gadget.

Maurice Patchett, the stunt driver who drove the double-decker bus (doubling for Roger Moore as James Bond) in the sequence where the bus is decapitated by a low bridge, was a London bus driver in real life. Although he doubled Moore as Bond, Seymour was not doubled and that is actually her in the back of the bus.

STEPHEN'S MOVIE GUIDE

Live and Let Die

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON LIVE & LET DIE